All Forum Posts by: Bryan Dumesnil

@Jordan Parr I just finished the Louisiana Salesperson course and exam and I am very close to getting my license. I took the online course through Burk Baker and it provided me with all of the information I needed to pass the exam the first time. Here is a couple of pieces of advice that I think may help you:

1. Pay attention to the material as best as you can. It helps if you're interested in the subject like I was, but I still had a hard time staying focused on some of the material. 

2. Don't cheat the practice exams. With the Burk Baker course, you can take the practice exams as many times as you'd like. I would sometimes take these exams 3 or 4 times before passing but I feel like doing that taught me much more than blitzing through them. 

3. Take the exam as soon as you are finished with the course. I waited about a month after finishing the course to take the exams. Although I did pass, I feel like I would have done much better if I would have immediately taken those exams while the material was still fresh in my head. 

I know this isn't a ton of advice but I wanted to share it since I was recently in the same situation that you are in now. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the course and exam and I'll gladly help you the best that I can.

@Kobe Xin Thank you for the advice!! I'll take a look at that brokerage. I actually messaged my agent and asked her if her brokerage would consider hiring me part time. She said they would love to have me. Looks like it's easier than I thought it would be!!

@Nathan Gesner Thank you for that information! I'm glad to hear that it is a generally accepted situation. I know that some agents do this but I wasn't sure if maybe there may have been a personal connection between the agent and the broker before. 

Hello everyone,

I have just completed the real estate salesperson course in my state and I will be taking my exam soon. I'm trying to get everything in order with a broker so that my license will be in order after taking the exam. I'm mainly interested in just having access to the MLS at this time. I currently have a full time job and do plan on making a few sales a year, but I would be limited on the time that I can spend completing those sales. I'm looking for a broker that can give me some freedom and I'm pretty confused when it comes to finding one. Please let me know if anyone can suggest any brokers that can offer this.

Also, I would like to know the proper way to make this request. For example, should I be straight forward in letting the broker know what I plan to do? I would rather not insult anyone by making these types of requests.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

@O'Neil Parker I would be interested to know more information on that property. Please send me a message with more info when you have time.

From my experience, there are many new investors who successfully invest in small multi-family properties and make a great return on their investment. Many of the Bigger Pockets podcast guests have skipped SFR's and gone straight into the multi's with no issue. I would definitely try to look up those podcast episodes and others for some quick education.

It sounds like you already have a little experience with the SFR that you currently own so that is a huge advantage. If you do plan on getting into buying a multi-family for your next investment, I would suggest starting small with a 4-plex or smaller. As with any investment, I would definitely do your due diligence and run your numbers multiple times with every expense that you could possibly think of. This will tell you for sure if the investment is worth it or not.

Good luck and please keep us updated on your progress!!

Awesome! This helps out so much. I was definitely making it more complicated than it needed to be. 

I'm loving the advice here everyone! Thank you guys so much. It really helps.

So I believe I was fairly confused about how the process works. I didn't think that a pre-approval letter would suffice as proof of funds for an offer but my realtor is telling me that it would. I was under the impression that I would need to apply for the loan first and get approved before I could submit an offer. I imagine I could probably get a pre-approval letter within a day which makes submitting an offer much easier. This all makes so much more sense now.

@Kevin M Finley

Yes, I believe I may need to get in touch with one at least to figure out the process. If the numbers work on the flip then I guess it doesn't really matter how expensive they are.

@Michael Temple

That is a great piece of advice. A friend of mine said that he does this but I honestly didn't believe him. I guess I just feel I'm probably not eligible for something like that since I'm so new to investing in real estate.